Committed to Consuming

Marko is going to post his thoughts on Teenagers and Materialism, once he gets permission/clearance from YouthworkerUK, who is running his article in their current issue. I can’t wait to get his take.

At the Austin NYWC (loved it!), Mike Pilavachi spoke about his coming to realize that he had created a culture of consumers in his student ministry. He catered to the students’ desire for entertainment, and that’s what he ended up with—students who wanted to be entertained.

How do we change the culture? How do we get to a place in our ministries where students care more about others than themselves? How do I get to that place myself?

I don’t know who said it, but people become committed to what they convert to. If we convert them to entertainment, they commit to being entertained. Convert them to church, or service, or worship, or a flashy personality, or a great program, or a personal/individual relationship with Jesus Christ…that’s what they’ll be committed to.

So how about we convert students to a broad, whole-life encompassing gospel? What if we convert them to a gospel that transforms a life, taking self-focused people to a place of caring for others, loving others more than themselves, and loving God more than people? What if we showed them that discipleship is not a class to attend, but a life to be lived?

My friend Sean (who truly has a blog worth reading) works for a little church in The Natti. They do this crazy thing they call Summer of Service. I think that we could put something together very much like this locally.

Today in our local youth pastors network, Daryl shared an idea of a local mission trip, finding a place for the group to crash (either homes or a church, or the barn), doing various service projects/random acts of kindness/practical, tangible, meaningful things to bless the lives of people in our community…

Benefits?

• Low-cost
• Aimed at breaking out of the “entertainment model” of student ministry
• Local
• Gets students working together (something that’s been elusive!)
• Sets the spiritual and cultural DNA for the next generation of leaders
  

We can do no great things, only small things with great love.
Mother Teresa

What if we tried a week of small things done in love? What if we spent a week loving our community in real ways, together?

Sean Michael Murphy’s post today hit me between the eyes. Read it here. He talks about the way we spend our $. When I follow the thread in my mind, I can see that my heart and my attention follow my $. Jesus said that where my treasure is, my heart will be.

Why is it so hard to re-orient my life around selflessness and service? Why doesn’t the loving God and loving part of following Jesus (I’ve heard that’s important) come more quickly in my life? I would love to give students the opportunity to experience this kind of thing.

Oh God, please help me.